How to Live Among the Walking Dead
The sleep deprivation is real. No one warned me that newborns woke every couple of hours to feed. I was blindsided by the sheer exhaustion of being a new mom. Even though I was awestruck and in love with each baby, I was a little concerned about being in charge of such a precious and fragile gift from God when I was so tired that I could barely string together sentences.
There was a week or two where I felt like a zombie. Then around week three, my body adjusted, and by God’s grace, I no longer needed much sleep. I could function off of snippets of napping in between feedings at night. I needed sleep, but I needed God more.
While reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan, I slapped the book shut and threw it down on the coffee table. Chan asked his readers not to pray for a week. I couldn’t fathom not talking to God. I believe Chan was hoping people would have reactions like mine. I don’t always have extensive formal prayer sessions, but I’m perpetually running ideas, hopes, and concerns by God, so Chan’s idea felt like losing my best friend.
If uprooting a plant causes it to die, and taking a fish out of water kills it, then a person living without God is a walking zombie. How is a man supposed to live without their source?
The psalmist Asaph reiterates the need for God in Psalm 73:25-28, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. But for me, it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.”
Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that if she knew who He was, she would have asked for, and He would have given her, living water. In John 4:14, Jesus tells her, “But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” When the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness and told Him to turn rocks into bread, Jesus replied, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4.)
Our spirit needs God like our bodies need food and water.
I love watching videos of kids who were deaf being able to hear their mom’s voice for the first time. Or grown adults who’ve been colorblind their entire life put on glasses, allowing them for the first time to see color. I’m reminded of back when I gave my life to Christ. The world seemed more vivid, as if seeing the world in a whole new way and with a newfound purpose.
In the book of Job, the devil approached God’s throne and asked permission to take everything from Job, as if to prove that God’s children only love Him for what He gives us. Satan stripped Job of his children, his possessions, and his health. Yet Job remained faithful. What the devil couldn’t understand was that God was Job’s everything.
Without God we are the walking dead. God put the breath in our lungs. He is our source of life and salvation. Cling to Him and He will renew your life and sustain you.